The market for Internet-connected products is growing, with connected thermostats becoming very popular with consumers. Some co-ops and other utilities are leveraging smart thermostats for demand response and other load shifting programs. This report reviews the efforts of Jackson County Rural Electric Membership Cooperative (REMC), a distribution co-op in southern Indiana, and its generation and transmission (G&T) co-op, Hoosier Energy (Hoosier), to test how smart thermostats could be used to reduce peak demand in both summer and winter. In addition, they aimed to learn whether smart thermostat programs could provide technology that members want, while serving as an engagement touch point.
